Dust guard



April 4, 1939. A. VIGNE ET Al. 2,152,937

DUST GUARD Filed Feb. 5, 1938 26 INVENTORS ALBERT v IG NE BY l ENE COX I fg' A ORNEY.

Patented Apr. 4, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT .o1-Fics DUST GUARD Application February 5, less, serial No. 188,839

3 Claims.

Our invention relates to a dust guard and particularly to that type of dust lguards which `are used in connection with the journal boxes of railway cars. Such guards are positioned in a slot or channel formed in the rear wall of the journal box and surrounding the part of the axle projecting through said rear wall.

One object of our invention is to provide a dust guard for journal boxes which Will not only prevent entrance of dust and other foreign matter from the exterior of the box but which willform an eiective seal against the escape of oil from the box either around the axle or along the walls of the channel in which the guard ispositioned.

Another object of our invention is to provide a guard which will be simple in construction so that it may not only be manufactured at low cost but may be readily placed in position Without the use of special tools.

A further object of our invention is to provide a dust guard which will be sufilciently rigid and durable to withstand the strains and stresses to which it is subjectedl by the relative movement of the axle and box and will retain its resiliency for a long period of time'.

In the accompanying drawing which illustrates one form' of dust guard made in accordance with our invention Figure 1 is a vertical central section through the rear end of a railway journal box to which our guard is applied; Figure 2 is a front elevation of the guard alone; and Figure 3 is an enlarged section taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Referring first to Figure 1, the numeral 5 indicates a railway journal box in the rear wall of which is formed a slot or channel 6 to receive the dust guard. This wall also has formed in it an opening I for the passage of the -axle V8 carrying wheel 9. The portion of the axle passing through the wall is provided with an en- Y larged shoulder or dust guard lit I with which the guard makes contact as hereinafter described. The dust guard consists essentially of three parts, a rear or seal plate Il, a front or retainer plate I2, and an interposed sheet I3. This sheet I3 may be composed of any porous material having the necessary characteristics of resiliency, elastic compressibility, and flexibility'. We prefer, however, to employ cellulose sponge specially treated as described in our co-pending application Serial No. 124,374 of February 6, 1937. Our preference for the use of this material is based upon the fact that it not only complies with the plate II and retainer plate 8 are preferably both made of the shape shown in Figure 2 having straight tops and rounded bottoms, their size being somewhat less than the contour of the channel 6 to permit the necessary movement of the axle relative to the box. Both plates are preferably made of hard fibre board or similar material, The opening in plate II is of such size as to form a snug running iit with the collar or guard t IIJ of the axle. This prevents Y movement of the guard relative to the axle in either a vertical or lateral direction. The opening Il in plate I2 is larger than that in plate II and the inner edge of this opening is rounded or beveled as shown.

Plates II and I2 are connected at their tops and bottoms by tie members I and I6, respectively. These tie members are formed-of cotton webbing or other liexible but preferably nonelastie material. 'I'heir width is such as to permit the sheet I3 to expand to its normal thickness as shown in Figure 3. When in this expanded condition, the distance between the rear face of plate II and the front face of plate I2 should be considerably greater than the distance between the walls of channel 6 so that the guard must be compressed before insertion into the channel and the plates are held rmly against the walls of the channel by the compressible elasticity of the sheet.- One edge of tie member I5 is connected to the inner face of plate II by staples I1. or similar fastening means, which means also attaches sheet I3 to said plate. In like manner one edge of tie member I6 is connected to plate II by staples I8 which also pass through sheet I3. In addition to these fastening devices, we prefer toemploy a series of staples I9 arranged in annular formation around the opening in plate I I and securing sheet I3 to said plate. 4It will be understood that all of these fastening means I1, I8 and I9, whether staples or other devices, should be let into the outer face of plate II so as not toin-terfereA with its contact with the wall of the channel and that their length should be such thatthey will not strike against plate I 2 when the guard is in its compressed condition. The opposite edges oi.' tie members I5 and I 6- are secured to the outer face of plate I2 by staples 20 and 2l, respectively. To prevent these edges from interfering with the contact of the outer face of this plate with the wall of the channel, they are positioned in rabbets-22 and 23 in said face.

To seal the open top of the slot or channel 6 against the entrance-of water, dirt or other foreign matter, we employ a sealing strip 2l of the same material as sheet I3. This sealing strip is both longer and wider than the length and width of the channel so that when the guard is installed in the channel, the sealing strip must be compressed to enter the channel and so bears ilrmly against the walls thereof both at the sides and ends. The sealing strip is preferably secured to the guard by means of staples 25 passing down vertically through said strip and the web of tie member Il.

In placing our guard in position, plates II and I2 are forced toward each other, compressing sheet I3, until the thickness of the guard is sufilciently reduced to permit its insertion in channel 6. After the lower part of the guard has entered the channel, pressure on the plates is released, permit'ting the elasticity of sheet I3 to force the plates rmly against the walls or the channel. The guard is now forced completely into the channel, as shown in Figure l, thelsealing strip 2l eectively closing the open upper end thereof. The axle opening 26 in sheet I3 is considerably smaller than collar I0 of the axle so that when the axle is inserted through it, the inner edge of the sheet will be bent over to form a sealing lip I3', as shown in Figure l. This lip is confined between the collar IB and the rounded edge of opening Il in plate I2. 'Ihe size of opening Il should be greater than the diameter of the part Ill` of the axle by an amountequal to twice the flexed thickness of lip I3. 'I'his amount should, however, be appreciably less than twice the normal or uncompressed thickness of sheet I3 so that the edge of opening I l will eil'ect a certain amount of compression on lip I3 to insure effective contact of the lip with the axle under all conditions.

Having fully described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a dust guard, a seal plate, a'retainer plate, a sheet of porous elastic material positioned between said plates and exerting lateral pressure thereon, upper and lower tie members of nonelastic pliable material connecting said plates but permitting movement thereof toward and away from each other, and a sealing strip of porous .elastic material carried by the upper tie member.

2. In a dust guard, a seal plate, a retainer plate, said plates having straight tops and rounded bottoms, a sheet of porous elastic material positioned between said plates, means securing said plates together but permitting movement thereof toward and away from each other, said means including a tie member of non-elastic pliable material located at the straight top edges of the plates, and a sealing strip of porous elastic material carried by said tie member.

3. In a dust guard, a seal plate of rigid material having an opening forming a running llt with an axle, 'a retainer plate also of rigid material and having an opening for the reception of an axle, each of said plates having flat outer faces,

a packing sheet of porous elastic material interposed between said plates and having an inner lip projecting through the opening in the retainer plate for contact with an axle, the diameter ci the opening lin the retainer plate being greater than the axle diameter by substantially twice the normal thickness of the lip, said packing sheet being secured to the seal plate but not directly connected to the retainer plate, the elasticity of the packing sheet functioning .to force the flat outer faces of said plates directly against the wall of a dust guard channeL'and a non-elastic pli'able tie member connecting said plates to retain them in proper relative position during installment.

larial-:rrr VIGNE. I. EUGENE cox. 

